


Help

by throwaway556



Category: Adventure Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28956489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/throwaway556/pseuds/throwaway556
Summary: Follow Simon throughout his day helping people
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Help

“Morning Simon!”  
“Good morning Marcy”  
Simon had just arrived at Marceline’s door. After a quick hug, she led him inside. Simon took a seat on her couch while she floated up the stairs. Simon dug into his bag and produced a wrinkled sheet of paper, as well as a photo. He carefully placed the photo back inside his bag, and stared at the sheet of paper. It had yellowed and cracked with age, but was still legible. Simon smoothed it against his leg before setting it down on his lap. Marceline came back down the stairs bass in hand and sat beside him.  
“So, remind me why you had me dig out this old love song again?”  
“Well, like I said I have a special gig tonight. I wanted to play an old love song for it, and you always had good taste in music.”  
“I can’t argue with that.” Simon chuckled “Still though, it’s a bit weird for you to ask for my favorite love song on such short notice. I didn’t even know if l had the lyrics.”  
“Oh please, if anyone today would have a thousand-year-old love song, it would be you. And it being your favorite means I get to make fun of you for how sappy it probably is.”  
“Hey what happened to my always great taste in music?”  
“You can have great taste in music while also having some sappy picks. And knowing you, your favorites are probably super sappy.”  
“Well, in any case I have it for you right here. And knowing you, you’ll give a great performance and I’ll have to hear this be butchered by every love-struck shmuck until the end of time.”  
“Thanks a lot! This should be a big help. Anyway, I doubt you’ll hear it from random people. My audience tonight is pretty secretive about their emotions. In fact, I doubt anyone else will ever hear it.”  
“Oh, a secret lover’s concert is it? Is it perhaps for a certain candy princess I know?”  
Marceline lightly slapped Simon on the arm.  
“So, do you have anything special planned today Simon?”  
“No, not really. I have to go to the candy kingdom to buy some things and help Bubblegum make sense of some research, but I don’t really have a lot planned.”  
“Oh. Well, I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Anyway, I don’t mean to kick you out, but if you have to help Bonnie, you should probably get going soon.”  
“You’re right. I wouldn’t want to make her late for anything.”  
“Simon, stop!”  
The two said their goodbyes and Simon began an uneventful walk to the candy kingdom. Before he met with Bubblegum, he just needed to visit the general store to buy his supplies. He hoped it wouldn’t be a busy day for them. As Simon continued his trek, he became lost in his thoughts. He wasn’t completely honest with Marceline. He did have something planned for tonight, but it was none of her concern.  
Simon arrived at the Candy Kingdom’s gate. It was only mid-morning so he had a great deal of time to visit the store and help Bubblegum before continuing on with his day. Maybe he could find some other things to do as well.  
“Hey you! Can you help us with this for a minute?”  
Simon turned to face the voice. A couple of banana guards were trying to prevent boxes from falling out of a clearly overfilled cart. Each time one placed a box back in, two more would fall out. Simon laughed to himself. Finn was right, watching the banana guards try to accomplish even the most basic of tasks could be entertaining.  
“Here let me help you guys with that”  
Simon walked over and peered into the cart. The boxes were seemingly stacked randomly, yet in a perfect combination to push each other out of the cart with each turn of the wheel. It was amazing how perfectly each box would brush and knock against each other to force each other out, and cause the banana guards to scramble and shove them back in.  
“It looks like we’re going to need to reorganize a lot of these boxes. They’ll just keep knocking each other out unless we properly sort them.”  
“No, we don’t need to do that. If we do that, the boxes will just make the cart heavier, so our job will take longer.”  
“I’m sorry?”  
“Yeah its basic weight law. If we don’t have gaps of air or space in the cart, then it will weigh more and then cause everything to be harder to move. If we keep the gaps, then it will be lighter and easier to move.”  
The banana guards started to giggle.  
“Shouldn’t you know that Dr. professor man?”  
Simon knew it was easier to just go along with it rather than try to reason with them. Banana guards weren’t known for being opened minded, or really having a mind at all actually. Instead, Simon copied the banana guards and extended his arms to hold down any boxes that tried making a desperate jump for freedom from the poorly organized cart. Every so often, the guards would pause to try and reorganize the top layer of boxes. Every time they stopped; the guards would move the cart slightly back in attempt to regain their form around it. After a grueling hour, the cart made it all fifteen meters into the kingdom’s main square.  
“Hey, what’s in these boxes anyway? Must be a pretty big delivery if you’re carrying so many of them.”  
“Huh? Oh no. We were just practicing how to roll the cart in and out of the city. The boxes weren’t really important. Thanks for trying to helping us though.”  
Simon sighed. Well, at least he had found something to do for the time being. He still needed to buy supplies and help Bubblegum with her research though.

He arrived in the store. It was virtually empty. Simon found what he needed- two candles and a lighter. He walked up to the counter. It was wooden and most of it was covered in a gooey substance he hoped to avoid touching. A candy cane man took his position as the register and rung each of the items up. The candy cane looked at the candles and tried to make small talk.  
“So, candles. You like to light them up often then?”  
“Oh, no. Only for special occasions really.”  
“Oh, special occasions, gotcha. Yeah, I had a special occasion this morning. I got to try honey sugar for the first time, but boy it was sticky. I just wish I could clean it all up, but I don’t want to get the wood wet”  
“Have you tried scrapping it off the wood with a knife?”  
The candy cane man’s eyes lit up. He vanished under the counter for a moment before triumphantly returning with a spoon.  
“Well I don’t have a knife here, but I’m sure this will do the trick!”  
The candy cane man put the spoon under the honey and began to shovel and fling it off. Simon tried ducking, but wasn’t fast enough. A sizable chunk of it managed to land right into his glasses. Simon sighed and began wiping it away. He would have to smell it for weeks.  
“Hey man, thanks for the tip. I didn’t even get any on me! I really owe you one!”  
“Yeah, no problem” 

After stopping for a brief lunch, Simon finally arrived at the castle. Simon found his way into Bubblegum’s lab.  
“Hey, Bubblegum. You asked for my help on making sense of some information?”  
Bubblegum looked up at him. She quickly grabbed multiple ancient looking books from under her desk and shoved them into his arms.  
“Hey Simon, thanks for coming. If you could just help me make sense of everything in these old books, I would really appreciate it.”  
“Oh. I don’t know if I can get through all of this today. I have something to do later tonight and- “  
“What could be more important than helping with my research?”  
“Well, its kind of personal. Look I’m happy to help as much as I can today, but could I continue what I can’t get done today at another point? These are pretty dense looking books, and I’m sure I’ll have to read through them more than once to really help you. Besides, by the way you asked yesterday, I thought I would be helping you interpret results, not conducting research for you.”  
“Well, I suppose. But can you try to get as much done today as possible? I’d like to present the findings as soon as possible.”  
“I will.”  
Simon set to work. For what felt like hours, he meticulously studied each of the ancient tomes. They were certainly interesting, but he wasn’t necessarily excited about their content. In fact, much of it seemed to be information that was outdated by his day. The tomes were loose in the topics they covered and at times it was difficult to keep track how each chapter was related. Nevertheless, he made sure to summarize his findings to the best of his abilities.  
Simon peered away from the tomes and glanced at Bubblegum. Last time he glanced at her, she was rifling through a book that looked to be his age. The ancient book served a new purpose, as her pillow. He chuckled to himself and decided it was time to call it a day. He organized his research, stored away his books, grabbed his bag, and made sure to replace the stand-in pillow with a comfier alternative. He walked out of her lab and alerted the nearby guards to not disturb her rest.  
Simon exited the candy city and began walking on a crude dirt path. He wanted to arrive before sun-down and was unsure of how quickly he would arrive. Eventually, he could make some figures out in the distance. He wasn’t anywhere near where he needed to be, but from their frantic movements he figured he could check to see if they needed any help.  
After growing closer, Simon found himself pleasantly surprised. Finn and Jake were scouring the area. Bushes were uprooted, rocks overturned, and every so often Jake would stretch himself flat and cover the ground around him. Simon slowly continued, but called out to make his presence known.  
“Hey guys. Are you two looking for something?”  
“Oh, hey Simon. Yeah, we kind of lost- “  
“Finn don’t tell! It’s embarrassing!”  
“Come on dude, it’s just Simon.”  
“Well, ok. Finn and I made a bet with BMO that we could find anything they hid in a 20-mile radius. So, BMO hid a toy we had when we were kids.”  
“Oh, so you’re trying to win the bet then.”  
“No. We found that toy in like five seconds tops. BMO put it on their head and tried to cover it with a tiny hat.”  
“BMO isn’t really that good at hiding things.”  
“I see. So, what are you looking for then?”  
“Well, we bet a silver coin. But BMO only wanted to lend it to us because it doubled as their favorite way to look at themselves.”  
“BMO is a bit weird around mirror for some reason.”  
“Yeah. Anyway, Jake was throwing and catching the coin with different parts of his body. But he threw it super high up and then tripped trying to catch it. We’ve been trying to find it for like three hours now.”  
“See I told you it was embarrassing.”  
“Hey it isn’t any more embarrassing than any of the stuff I did as the Ice King. Why don’t I try helping you find it for a bit?”  
“That would be great. We could really use the help.”  
“You would think finding a coin would be easy considering everything we’ve done.”  
Finn and Jake renewed their search for the coin. Simon walked to an area that seemed pristine to the general upheaval around it and began his own expedition. He left no stone unturned, no bush undisturbed, and no dirt mound unchecked. He looked to Finn and Jake’s progress and saw that they would work in circles. One would chuck a rock or piece of trash after finding nothing under it. The rock would land near the other, and prompt them to lift it in a grand and hopeful gesture only to quickly adopt a sour face and throw it behind them. Then the process would continue anew.  
As he gazed at them, Jake stretched his head and began grinding it against the ground- hoping to pick up some sign of the coin. Suddenly, Simon caught a quick flash of light.  
“Guys I think I know where the coin is! Jake could you return to normal and stay perfectly still?”  
Jake did what he was told and Simon walked behind him. Simon moved his hand behind Jake’s head, tugged, and swiftly produced the silver coin- now covered in a bit of hair.  
“Dude did you really just pull the coin out of Jake’s ear? Are you still a wizard?”  
“No, no. I saw that it was caught between the rolls of skin behind Jake’s head. I don’t know why you didn’t feel it sooner though Jake.”  
“Okay I get it, I’ve put on a little weight. Ha-ha”  
“No, it’s not that. I’m just surprised about how perfectly you seemed to have captured it. It probably didn’t budge whenever you stretched in your search for it.”  
“Well what do you know. Even when I mess up, I’m still the best at catching stuff. I never fail to impress myself.”  
“Well, in any case we owe you one Simon. Do you need anything?”  
“Actually, if Jake could stretch me in this direction a bit, it would make my journey a lot faster.”  
“This direction? Isn’t the house Marceline uh, acquired for you the other way?”  
“Oh, I’m not going home yet. I have someone I need to see. I just want to get there before sun-down.”  
“Yeah no problem. I can’t get you all the way there, but I can stretch you just over the hills. Is that good enough?”  
“That would be perfect. Thank you.”  
Jake outstretched his hand and Simon climbed aboard. Seconds later, he was soaring through the sky like he was riding a magic carpet. It didn’t take long for the overstretched hand to land beyond the aforementioned hills. Simon stepped off and the hand snapped back to its owner. Simon looked at the sky. He would definitely make it on time now. He began the last leg of his trek.  
He walked down the rocky slope and entered a lightly shaded forest. He couldn’t hear any animals, and there wasn’t any sign of other life either. He was alone. He found his way to a small creek and began walking in tangent with it. As he continued, the forest wore thinner. Vegetation was gradually replaced with scorched and uneven earth. He had to watch his step lest he fall in to one of the countless man-sized holes.  
Eventually, all the vegetation was gone. The land was barren and lifeless. The creek gradually thinned and dried up. Simon continued. There was no noise other than dust being kicked up and deposited into new homes by the wind. One of these new homes just happened to be against the back of his jacket. Small rocks began finding their way into his boots. His glasses gradually became stained with dust and dirt. He tried wiping it off to no avail. The glasses were still somewhat sticky. No matter, he could see through the grime. The environment wouldn’t separate him now. Not when he was this close. He just had to go a little farther. As Simon strode onwards, he began to think. The last time he was here, he had the foresight to made construct a marker so he wouldn’t get lost. Simon spotted a dirt mound and climbed on top of it. He began scanning around him.  
Finally, he spotted what he was looking for. A small wooden cross entered his vision. He trudged onward through the dust and wind. With every step he took, it felt as if the Earth’s gravity and weather amplified. His clothes were beginning to weigh him down with all of the filth they had collected. The sun was also beginning to set on him. He didn’t want to walk home completely in the dark. With a desperate final lunge, he collapsed onto his knees it in front of the crude marker. Simon caught his breathe for a minute before gently placing his bag on the ground. He slowly opened it, and felt around for what he needed. First, he removed and placed two of the candles. He carefully placed one on each to side of the wooden marker and built-up small supporting mounds of dirt. He didn’t want to risk the wind knocking them over. Next, he removed an all too familiar photo of a women with glasses and red hair. He gazed at it for a minute before placing it against the cross. Finally, he produced a lighter. He slowly lit both candles and stared into the photo.  
“Happy birthday princess. If only I knew how I could help you”  
Simon began to sing. His voice became hoarser with each word. Tears began to escape his eyes as he forced himself to sing a tune which at one point of his life he could only express in a jovial manner. His voice soon caught in his throat. He choked on his attempts to form words before he could no longer produce any sound.  
Two hands found their way around his body before lightly wrapping around his chest. From behind him, a soothing voice continued the song he had attempted. Her voice had started calm, but gradually broke down like his own had, and the singing came to an abrupt end. He began to feel individual droplets of water fall onto the back of his neck. He allowed her to slowly turn and bury his head in her shoulder exactly how he had done for her countless times before.  
The following minutes dragged on for hours. Neither figure spoke. The wind died, and the only sounds were the mixed sobbing of the two designated survivors. Simon pulled away and dried his eyes before turning back and fixating himself on the photo. Marceline dried her own tears and sat down beside him. Finally, Simon spoke.  
“I thought you had an important gig tonight”  
“I did. I spent all day learning a special song for it. I arrived late and I broke down without finishing the song. I just hope my audience will forgive me”  
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you knew what today was, and I didn’t want to burden you.”  
“I followed you the last time you came here. I wanted to let you know that you’re not alone in this…”  
“I know. I’m sorry.”  
“You know Simon, you’re the only person I know whose said sorry to someone for protecting them. For dying. For grieving. And for trying to keep others happy by hiding your own sadness. I think you need to stop helping and apologizing all the time and be a little more selfish.”  
“Maybe you’re right... I think I’ll start right now and stay here for a while”  
“And I’ll be here with you until you’re ready to go home.”


End file.
